Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

“Shouriiiii.”

Shouri stood in the hallway of the Nicchi family home, only a mere step away from the bathroom. An annoyed Priscilla stood at her bedroom door.

It had been a few days since the incident and once more the group of young adults fell into the same routine they had previously: get up, loll around the house, eat food, go to bed.

“Follow me.” She walked past him towards the pool deck. Shouri looked to the bathroom, hung his head, and sighed. Nature would have to take a voicemail it seemed.

It was a balmy summer night, the moon was but a thin, waxing crescent, and once more Shouri found himself staring at the calm waters of the pool with Mrs. Nicchi standing by him.

“Soooo, what happened to taking your girls out to see the sights?” she began with the pointed question.

“There were complications.” He knew there was no point in trying to dance around the topic, but he was going to try regardless.

“Oho? You all came back so exhausted after the museum and then didn’t go out again. I know your weak stave is willpower, but come on, that little fox of yours can run an army on her will,” Priscilla chuckled. “What’s really going on mister?” she asked.

“Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to,” he grumbled under his breath.

“What was that?” the mother said in that voice.

“Nothing!” Shouri huffed. He looked around as if the perfectly manicured landscaping had the answers spelled out for him.

His fingertips traced the edges of Taika’s tuner at his waist. “Found out some people I don’t like are here,” he admitted quietly. “Makes it hard to get up in the morning.”

Priscilla expected more, but he was being honest. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Well suck it up buttercup.” She smacked his back roughly. “There are plenty of people in this world you’re gonna have to rub elbows with and not like it,” she spoke sternly. “You have one life to live and if you spend it trying to avoid unpleasant people or situations, is that really living life?”

“Easy for you to say,” he mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing nothing!”

A cool wind blew over them, rippling the water in its wake. “I’m serious Shouri. You and I are people who are written off as weird or crazy. We earn the ire of our peers simply from how we choose to interact with our Resonators.”

Shouri lowered his head. A few people came to mind on both ends of the spectrum – the Lyles and Makanis of the world, those who treated Resonators as things, and those who saw a partner, an equal.

“Those girls will happily follow you to the ends of the world. The least you can do is show them a good time.” With her piece said, Priscilla once more left Shouri alone with his thoughts.

“You’ll follow me straight into hell if that’s what I want,” the boy whispered, caressing the black tuner at his side.

The next morning, sapphire blue eyes fluttered open, welcoming their owner to the realm of consciousness once more. This particular morning, Pacifica found herself between Shouri and Taika. While it was easier to go out for their morning exercise, she still silently pined for the warm embrace of her Maestro.

“Taika, Taika.”

The lunar vixen groggily rose from her slumber, disturbed from pleasant dreams by her pushy otter friend who insisted that six in the morning was prime swimming hours.

“Possiamo saltare la sessione di oggi?” Taika asked groggily.

“Why would you want to skip swimming? You love swimming,” Pacifica pouted

“Siete amanti del nuoto. Adoro mangiare e dormire.” And with that Taika flopped back into the pillow.

“Taiiiiikaaaaa,” the otter whined quietly.

If for nothing else, but Shouri’s continued sleep, Taika once again acquiesced to Pacifica’s demands and went swimming at six in the morning.

Splash!

Pacifica surfaced from the depths of the pool, refreshed from a perfect dive straight to the bottom. “Ahhh, it’s this great Taika?” she asked.

“Great. Sure.” Taika trembled, still trying to adjust to the cold water.

For all her amazing ability to read the room, Pacifica was seemingly malicious in her ability to just straight up ignore her friend’s sarcasm: “I’m glad you agree!”

Usually, their swim sessions lasted roughly an hour, at which point the sun poked above the horizon, signaling the end of the forced exercise. Pacifica used the poolside shower to wash the chlorine from her clothes, hair, and tail, while Taika toweled off just enough to get her to the bathroom where she took a nice, hot shower.

After her shower, Taika got dressed in her everyday wear and wandered into the living room where Pacifica reclined on the couch. Typically she was either playing some video game or watching a movie. Today Taika found her otter friend watching some superhero animated movie.

“Movie?” Taika yawned.

“Yeah yeah! This is a good one, come!” Pacifica patted the couch cushion next to her.

With another yawn, Taika trudged over and fell onto the couch.

“Gimmie your tail,” the otter demanded.

“Si si…”

The otter girl hummed to herself, watching the movie while brushing her friend’s tail. Once that task was complete, Pacifica allowed the sleepy fox to rest her head on her lap, stroking the vixen’s head gently. Taika, despite her frustration with the rude awakenings every morning, always drifted back to sleep with a serene smile on her face.

Only an hour or so passed before Shouri managed to drag Rebecca out of bed and into the living room. By this point, the credits were rolling on the film, so Pacifica could turn her undivided attention to her Maestro and fellow Resonators.

“Morning Sho.”

“Morning Pacifica.”

Taika perked up at this point. “Buongiorno Sho,” she greeted him with barely open eyes and a sleepy smile across her lips.

“And good morning, Taika.”

Rebecca always pouted at this point, despite getting extra cuddle time with her beloved Maestro, but she was satiated with a couple of head pats.

“So what’s the plan today party people?!” Priscilla loudly made her presence known to the younger adults.

Shouri (and his Resonators) winced at the sudden noise. "Hunting,” he said sternly.

“Taking what I said to heart?” the elder woman simpered.

“No,” he replied bluntly. “But money talks.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night bud.” Priscilla grinned toothily.

“What are you doing today Mom?” Pacifica asked.

“Same thing we do every day dear.”

“Try to take over the world?”

“Close! Very close!”

“Cici, come on, we’re running late!” the woman’s husband called from the other room.

“Coming Jack!” Priscilla shouted. She looked back to her daughter and friends. “Be good. And good luck with the hunt tonight. Don’t have too much fun!”

“We won’t!” Pacifica beamed.

And with that, the children had control of the house once more. “Damn, she’s draining,” Shouri sighed, plopping down onto the couch with his Resonators. Rebecca sat on the armrest next to him.

“We are actually going to hunt tonight?” Pacifica asked.

“Yeah, couldn’t lie to that woman if I wanted to,” the Maestro huffed. “Fuckin’ mind readers, the lot of you,” he mumbled as an aside.

“What are we gonna do until then?” Rebecca queried.

“The usual: eat, relax, probably sleep for some etude, and head down there.” He frowned at that last bullet point though. “Where the fuck are the hunter camps around here?” Drawing a tuner from his side, he went investigating.

“Hmmm…” He studied a map on the official Maestro Affairs website for the city. His eyes slowly widened as he came upon a realization. “Oh no.”

“What’s up Sho?” Pacifica tilted her head.

Shouri pinched the bridge of his nose. “This… is gonna get technical.”

Leaving the house earlier than usual, the group took the bus trip out of the suburbs into the “wilderness” that the Scherzando roamed about.

There was a familiar base camp set up near where the bus stop was.

“Oh, you were serious about the cornfields.” Rebecca held herself as they stepped off the bus. There was a small patch of dense woods, but other than that they were amidst farmland as far as the eye could see.

“I hope we get the trees,” Pacifica muttered, taking inventory of their surroundings.

“You think the farmers will give us some corn to take home?” Taika asked hopefully.

“Probably not, but we can get some cheap corn probably if you really want it,” Shouri said as he patted Taika’s head.

Things only deteriorated as they discovered the line for the evening’s festivities. “Oh hell no.” Rebecca shook her head. “Let’s get back on the bus.” She turned around but was stopped short by Pacifica grabbing her shoulder.

“Come on Rebby. Mom will kill us if we come back now. Might as well deal with it,” the otter told her fire counterpart.

“But field duty suuuuuucks,” Rebecca groaned.

“I’m not Lyle, it’ll be fine,” Shouri assured her with a smile. The vixen blushed, feeling the honesty of those simple words.

“H-headpat,” she quietly demanded, taking up the opposite side from Taika.

Pacifica giggled quietly to herself, watching her Maestro dual-head-pat the two foxes of their group.

The wait for their turn was much longer than anticipated, even as early as it was in the evening. Finally, when it was their time to get their assignment for the evening, they were presented with a tablet.

“What’s this?” Shouri asked.

“Ah, outta towner.” The attendant nodded. “As you can see, we got fields that need to be weeded from Scherzando. They make their nests, and they can damage farm equipment and hurt the workers on the farm if they’re left to nest.” They looked over Shouri’s selection of Resonators. “Kid like you will have no problem with this job.”

“Nothing more traditional?” Shouri raised a brow.

“Son, did you see that line? Early bird gets the worm.”

With a sigh, he acquiesced to the implication. “Fine fine.” He turned his attention down to the tablet he had been handed. There were several fields they could choose from. Each one had bonuses paid for by the farmers in addition to the usual stipends they normally received from Scherzando kills.

“I guess this does make us a bit more money than usual,” the Maestro considered. All the closer ones were naturally taken, so Shouri ended up deciding on the closest available farm with the best bonus. It was still quite the trek to and from the farm, but that’s just how things worked out here apparently. “Here.” He handed the tablet back.

“Good choice, I’ll call up the owner of that plot and let them know you’re on the way.”

“Thanks.”

And with that, they had their job for the evening.

“Should have brought the bottle,” Taika immediately complained as they set out on the road to their job site for the evening.

“Yeah, we’ll have to make do with drinking directly from Pacifica’s hands – I hope that’s okay.” Shouri looked back at the water provider of the group.

“Of course!” Naturally, the otter had no qualms with this.

The walk was relatively quiet, the sounds of other groups making their way to their assignments and the occasional vehicle passing by being the only sources of background noise.

“Man, I didn’t know there was this much corn in the world,” Rebecca groaned, looking to and fro for any other landmark besides the endless stalks that clouded their vision.

“It’s a staple crop. There are plenty of parts of the world like this, but instead of corn, they would grow things like wheat or rice,” Shouri explained.

“Ah.” Rebecca nodded. She sort of understood what he meant by that, but decided she wasn’t interested enough in the topic for any further edification.

By the time they reached the farm, the sun was dipping below the horizon. Rebecca tugged on Shouri’s jacket “Could probably use some light,” the fire Resonator advised the Maestro.

“Right, thanks.” He nodded; the night vision he and Taika shared was convenient, but unfortunately wasn’t extended to the rest of the party.

“Famiglio Incendio, Presto.”

Rebecca knelt and pressed her hands to the ground, summoning her small fire-fox familiar. The rhythm beast seemed overjoyed to be summoned again, hopping around Rebecca and Shouri. “It missed you,” Shouri chuckled.

“Yeah.” The fire Resonator stopped the familiar so she could pet it.

“Let’s keep going, we’re just about there.” Shouri pointed to the glow of the farmhouse just ahead. Approaching the home, the door opened before they were just about to knock.

A large canine-eared man was just stepping out. “Who are you?” he gruffly inquired, his imposing stature and demeanor causing the group to draw pause. Before they could muster up their courage to respond, he answered his own question, “Right, the help for tonight.” The dog looked over the much smaller Maestro and trio of girls. “Hmph.” The dog-man turned back to the house. “Seb! Help’s here!” he bellowed.

“Good luck, don’t fuck up.” And with that, the man departed for one of the nearby barns.

Shouri looked back to his group of Resonators who all shrugged at the welcome they got.

A minute later another man answered the door, dressed in overalls and having that “farmer” look to him. “Howdy kids, hope the trip down here wasn’t too bad.” The man held out his hand immediately, which Shouri shook.

“We’ve had worse,” Shouri muttered, still trying to gather his nerves.

“Come in come in!” the farmer invited the guests into his home.

The quartet slowly filed in, with Rebecca trailing behind. She had her summon hop onto her shoulder, unsure of etiquette in this situation. Looking around, it was a quaint home, though felt as welcoming as its owner.

“Have a seat, please. I took out for two Maestros tonight. We had a rough day today.” The farmer motioned to their well-worn but cared-for couch/coffee table combo. The younger group awkwardly took their seats as offered.

The farmer left the quartet alone in his living room. The four sat quietly, trying to avoid touching anything else outside of the couch they had all piled onto.

“This is weird Shouri,” Rebecca muttered, allowing her rhythm beast to sit on her lap.

“Yeah, too friendly,” Shouri whispered back.

“He’s genuine. Deals with our types all the time I feel,” Pacifica chimed in quietly.

“At least they seem like they don’t have a problem with lunars,” Taika added hopefully.

Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!

“What do you like to drink?” a woman now asked.

The four guests stared at the steaming bowls of stew set in front of them. It certainly looked appetizing, perfectly seared meat, carrots, potatoes, and celery all in a thick broth. A gentle steam rose from the bowls and the scent hit the group like a sack of bricks, immediately making them salivate.

Even so, Shouri felt bad they were being fed, given they hadn’t done anything yet. “You uh, don’t have to-”

“Nonsense! Y’all are skin and bone! You need to eat a good meal before working the fields! Eat! Eat!” she demanded.

“She’s not gonna take no for an answer Sho,” Pacifica advised.

“It looks good.” Rebecca frowned.

“Tastes good too.” Taika was already halfway done with her bowl.

“Why am I not surprised?” Rebecca shook her head but similarly took up her own bowl.

“We’ll do water,” Shouri addressed the previous question about their drinks.

While they began to eat, there was a knock at the door. “Coming!” Rushing from the other room, the farmer opened the door. “You must be the other Maestro, thanks for coming.” The farmer stepped out of the way to allow the other guests in.

Shouri dropped his bowl onto the table with a clatter, spilling some of his stew in the process. His eyes were wide, jaw slack.

“L-Lina?”

“Shouri?”